Purpose of the Meeting, Agenda Items, Participants, and Meeting Logistics
This essay analyzes the congress meeting that was set to come up with measures to curb the abuse of opioids in the United States. Most of the information in this essay will be derived from an article written by Daniella Diaz and published by the CNN. According to Diaz, members of the congress were set to vote individually on about twenty bills, all of them seeking to address the issue of opioid abuse (Daniella, 2018). In regard to the participants in the meeting, all the participants were members of the congress. These are political leaders who are elected by the public to represent them in terms of enacting laws and policies. Therefore, it was upon the members of the congress to cushion the public from drug abuse. Concerning logistics of the meeting, congress sessions do not require a lot of planning for the discussions to take place. The congress receives a stipend from the annual budget to carry out its duties. Secondly, it is a federal government institution and is expected to act on behalf of the public. Therefore, it has a permanent physical address and the necessary equipment and facilities to carry out its mandate.
Background Information
First, it is important to discuss the genesis of the topic that was to be discussed by members of the congress. According to Global Commission on Drug Policy (2017) approximately 64,000 people lost their lives as a result of drug overdoses in the US in 2016. Astonishingly, a majority of those deaths were caused by the abuse of opioids. Just to provide a brief overview, opioid drugs are a category that comprise of opium derivatives such as morphine, heroin, oxycodone and synthetic drugs. However, McCarty, Priest & Korthuis (2018) also suggests that most of the deaths are as a result of combination of opioid drugs with other substances such as alcohol. Opioids are mainly used to treat patients with severe pain when they cannot respond to other pain relievers. The opioids work by binding receptors especially in the brain to reduce the sending of pain messages to the brain. However, it was realized that opioids can be addictive, especially when patients do not adhere to the instructions of pharmacists. Some people continue to take opioids even after the end of their medication program. For a matter as weighty as drug abuse, the Congress had to intervene to perhaps prevent the unnecessary deaths. Opioid abuse was a national issue hence the need for leaders from all parts of the country to address it.
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Topic Discussed At the Committee and the Committee Process
As already mentioned, members of the congress were meeting to address the problem of drug and substance abuse in general and opioid abuse in particular. The members of the congress were expected to vote individually for or against the bills. Before the bills, members had come up with proposals about the measures they wanted to be taken to curb the abuse of opioids. The proposals were debated in the Congress before qualifying to be bills. The voting stage is conducted with the assumption that every member of the Congress has sufficient knowledge of what the bills contain (Corning, Dodin & Nevins, 2017). The members can either reject the bills or affirm the bills through their votes. If the bills are passed by a majority vote, they proceed to the next stage of becoming law.
Analysis of Key Stakeholder Positions
It is evident that the position of the members of the congress was to come up with measures to stop the abuse of opioids in the country. This statement is clear evidence, "We've heard from our constituents loud and clear as this crisis has continued to evolve, and will soon advance solutions that can provide real help to our friends, family, and neighbors." (Daniella, 2018). It was a statement that was uttered by the Health Subcommittee Chairman, Michael Burgess. It is also evident that the problem of opioid abuse was a matter of interest to the public. There were no two positions on such a matter that meant life or death to the public. If members of the Congress dared to go against mitigation efforts, they would be putting their political careers into jeopardy.
Key Interactions That Occurred At the Meeting
In this case, the article only reports about what was likely to happen. The debate stage had already taken place and what was remaining was for the members to vote either for or against the bills. Therefore, it was upon the speaker of the Congress to direct the members on the voting process and thereafter announce the outcome. The voting process is silent and does not require any consultation.
Outcomes of the Meeting
Voting for the more than 20 bills was supposed to mean that members of the congress unanimously agreed to curb the abuse of opioids. Specifically, members of the Congress were meant to direct the relevant bodies to implement safe practices to treat patients with severe pain. Secondly, the bills proposed the start of a national campaign to educate the public the harmful effects of abusing opioids. To achieve the objective, the stakeholders were to use real examples of people who had suffered from opioid abuse. It was the best method through which the public could see the devastating effects of the drugs. Lastly, the bills recommended that pharmacists have access to patients’ medical history and clinical records before prescribing drugs.
References
Corning, T., Dodin, R., & Nevins, K. (2017). Inside Congress: A Guide for Navigating the Politics of the House and Senate Floors . Brookings Institution Press.
Daniella Diaz, C. (2018). House set to vote on more than 20 bills to combat opioid addiction . CNN . Retrieved 22 July 2018, from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/08/politics/house-congress-opioids-legislation-bipartisan-legislation/index.html
Global Commission on Drug Policy. (2017). The Opioid Crisis in North America. Globalcommissionondrugs.org . Retrieved 22 July 2018, from http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-GCDP-Position-Paper-Opioid-Crisis-ENG.pdf
McCarty, D., Priest, K. C., & Korthuis, P. T. (2018). Treatment and prevention of opioid use disorder: challenges and opportunities. Annual review of public health , 39 , 525-541.
